


lionfish venom and pistal shots

by Yessal_Chaos



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Blood, F/F, F/M, Hurt Keith (Voltron), M/M, Merperson Allura (Voltron), Merperson Keith (Voltron), Merperson Romelle, Merperson Shiro (Voltron), Minor Allura/Romelle (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron), Pirate Hunk (voltron), Pirate Lance (Voltron), Pirate Pidge (Voltron), Pirate Zarkon (Voltron), Touch-Starved Keith (Voltron), Treasure Hunting, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-10-25 02:55:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20716925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessal_Chaos/pseuds/Yessal_Chaos
Summary: Ships ruled the seas in a constant war of dominance and territory. Although hundreds of ships cut the waves of the sea, only one was feared by all. The Legendary Blue lion. It’s known that spotting the Blue Lion ship only means death is coming unless you are the one (un)lucky person that is left to tell the tale of what happened to you and your ship. Now, who is the captain of such an amazing ship? Well, no other then the handsomely and feared Lance McClain. Rumor has it that he detects attacks weeks before it happens and is why he is always ready to fight. Rumors say he charmed the sea into steering his ship to treasure and victory. But hey it’s just legends right? Lance McClain is only 23 years old and took his name at the early age of 16, with the help of his trusty crew of course. Now though? He still wants more, he wants to prove to the world that he isn’t just some meer pirate, no he is going to do the unspeakable and find and conquer the lost city of Altea. Most think he’s crazy, all except his crew for they have all seen the wrath of the 23-year-old captain. There’s just one problem, the only way to find Altea is by the help of a mermaid. So who is the unlucky mermaid Lance is going to take?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Fan Fiction ever! I hope you like it, and I am always open for suggestions. Enjoy the story and get ready to slowly see myself drive myself into panic and anxiety to figure out what to write.

Chapter One: Fishing

Lance POV

I watched the horizon with a smirk as we got closer to the legendary Duel Tail island. A small island with a happy environment. Lots of food, alcohol, and resources to restock the ship. Though that is not why I took my crew here. There is a legend of a curse or blessing that has been placed on this island. The legend of Mermaids  
“Captain, shall we prepare to dock?” My first mate Hunk asked. Hunk is a large muscular man with tanned skin, hazel eyes, and brown hair that is held back by an orange bandana. I smiled at him and nodded, placing my hand on his shoulder.  
“Hunk for the last time, just call me Lance. Hell, we’ve known each other since we were 6! And yes let’s get ready to port.” He rolled his eyes at me but smiled.  
“I know, I know, but still I feel like because of your status I should call you captain, especially in front of the crew.”  
“Yah yah I get it…. Let’s just get going” I went to pull the wheel but was stopped by my navigator Pidge.  
“Not so fast their lover boy, we are going to have to take the rowboat, the shore is too high and just going to ruin the bottom of your dear ol’ Blue, or worse beach the Lion entirely.” I pouted at the short pale teenager. She wore a green tunic and brown pants, her hair was cut short into a weird but nice hairstyle. Adorn her face were round thick glasses that emphasized her board and unamused expression.  
“Fine, I guess we can do that too… Drop anchor!” I yelled out to the rest of the crew and the order was executed immediately. A few other crew members got the rowboat ready as I marched over to them.  
“Alright Hunk, Pidge, and I will be back in a few hours, keep the ship nice and pretty for me for when I come back…. Matt you're in charge.” A boy the same age as me bowed dramatically.  
“Oh what an honor to basto upon me! But seriously take care of Pidge…. Dad would kill me if she got hurt.” Matt and Pidge are siblings, and Matt looks like Pidge, just taller and longer hair but other than that you can definitely see the resemblance. Pidge stuck her tongue out at him and got in the rowboat.  
“Will do!” I hopped in the boat after Hunk got in and the crew lowered us to the ocean and I started bringing us to shore. After Docking the boat I paid a boy that was in charge of the boats handsomely as I walked up to the docks and into the town. The town was busy with the afternoon rush making it slightly difficult to get around. I looked around at all the stores until I spotted the place I was looking for. It was an old bar with molding wooden walls and foggy windows from the sea, it had double doors but one was barely hanging on to its hinges, the only way to see that is was an actually used building was a rusted sign with one faded word “open.” I walked forward and pushed the door in with a bit more force then I thought as it swung open. There were only three people in there. A young lady wiping down tables that greeted us with a large smile, I winked at her in return, a middle age man sitting at one of the booths reading the newspaper, and lastly, an old man passed out at the bar with a big bottle of vodka in his right hand. I walked over to the bar and took a seat, Pidge and Hunk sitting on either side of me and the young lady from before ran behind the counter. I noticed she undid one of the top buttons on her blouse when she came up and learned a few extra inches closer to me then she needed.  
“What can I get you three?” She made direct eye contact with me while she said that while pushing some hair out of her face.  
“Well you see Hermosa I'm actually here because of a certain… fish per say know anyone I can ask?” I leaned forward and gently took her chin in between my index finger and thumb causing her to blush. In doing so I heard Pidge scoff slightly annoyed with my antics. The lady glared at Pidge before turning back to me with a flirty look.  
“Well, we have much fish here that you would love! We have Sturgeons, Trout, Bream, Carp-” I held my hand up before she could continue.  
“I’m thinking more along the lines of one that can take me to the treasures of Altea.” The old man shot up next to me at the name and glared at me.  
“Ye be playin’ with fire boy! The fish Ye be talkin’ about be deadly and drown Ye if Ye not careful. It destroyed my fishing boat and broke me leg so bad the people here just cut it off!” I raised a brow at the man and looked down and sure enough, his left leg was replaced by a wooden peg.  
“Grandpa stop it! You’re going to scare them away! You broke your boat along the shoreline and your leg was broken from the crash, there is no vial mermaid out there.” The lady groaned at her grandpa and tried to get my attention back but I just pushed her away and turned to the man.  
“It be true! She was gorgeous! She had a purple tail with a fin sharper than a shark and flew through the water like it was nothin’ She had a baby too, tried to get the baby to show off to the town but the damn woman destroyed everything I owned.”  
“Grandpa that was over 17 years ago.” I Hushed her and turned back to the man.  
“So is the mermaid still here?” I questioned. Hunk watched with slight fear and Pidge pulled out a notepad to take notes.  
“The lade fish? Nay, but the baby she had is still here, it be a dangerous venomous bitch it be. It’s tail is redder than fire and it can swim much faster than the mother could. To make it even worse it’s venom is able to kill a full grown shark in seconds!” I nodded as he continued.  
“Where does it stay usually?” Pidge piped in.  
“There is an underwater cave the east side of the bay, it stays there. I tried to catch it a few times… It enjoys certain shells and jewels, it really likes the lobsters that the town’s traps catch, makes an easy meal I guess.” Pidge rights all of this down and nods to me. We all stand up and I drop a sack of gold coins on the table.  
“Thank you for your time.” Before anyone could say anything else we left heading back to the ship to prepare to set some traps.

??? POV

The sun was just starting to rise when I woke. I stretched my arms as far as they could to get feeling back into them after sleeping on the ocean floor so long. I unfurled my tail from under me and started to make my way to the edge of the cave I like to stay in. The water was cool from the night and the sun felt amazing against my skin. I started to swim out and around the shoar feeling slightly hungry from not eating the night before. I went to a nearby coral reef that has hundreds of colorful tiny fish swimming around. I smirked and narrowed my eyes as I got closer looking for my next victim. Just before me, a bright blue angelfish shot by and I quickly snapped my jaws at it and let go. It swam away hurried as I followed close behind slowly watching it go limp. Once it started to float up I snatched it with my clawed hands and quickly devoured it. Once I finished I picked some of the bones from my teeth and went looking for my next fish to eat, or if the boat people set out some lobsters for me that would be awesome. I always wonder why they leave out so many of those wired cages, I can only eat so many but I do appreciate it. Speaking of which… My eyes caught a shining light to my left just out of the way of the rocky shore by my home. I curiously swam over to it and saw a small rope decorated with shiny jewels and round gold things the two-legged like so much. I swam around the rope and noticed how everything was weaved into it so delicately. I followed the rope down and low and behold it was a cage full of lobsters! The two-legged really outdone themselves this time. I chirp in delight and grabbed the trap and broke the small wood that was around it-  
“EEP!” Faster than I could comprehend something entangled me and was lifting me to the surface.  
Panic invaded my entire body as I fought with the net and tried to bite my way out the rope but I wasn’t fast enough as my body breached the surface and I gasped for air.  
“Captain we got it!!!” So much noise invaded my ears as my gills fluttered against my ribs searching for air. I started to gasp violently something brought me onto a large boat and dropped me to its surface. Many two-legged stood around me and I quickly growled and lunged at a few that got to close. I couldn’t stop gasping as my vision started to spot. Someone with very decorative blue leg covers stood in front of me and I weakly hissed at them as they bent down to my level. I just got a glimpse of deep blue eyes before everything went dark.

Lance POV  
I walked over to the passed out merman. He was very beautiful with long black hair and a red tail that rivaled the color of fire, long wisping fins shot out of the tail and along his back just like a lionfish. I bent down to his level and held up his face. He truly was a beautiful creature he looked so peaceful and calm, opposed to his frightened and angered self minutes ago.  
“Fill my bath with sea water as fast as you can! We can’t have him dying on us now!” My crew immediately got to work filling bucket after bucket of water and running into my private quarters to fill the bath.  
“Lance be cautious of those barbs around his tail. If he truly is poisonous that's where the poison will be.” I look over at Pidge and nod before carefully putting my arms under the merman and lifting him up. He was quite easy to carry and very skinny which made me frown but at least it easier to get him to the tub where I gently laid him down. I watched as the gills around his ribs fluttered open allowing the oxygen from the water to enter his body again. My friends Pidge and Hunk walked in a few moments later and looked at the merman.  
“Do you think he's ok? He must be so scared right now and when he wakes up he’s going to be even more panicked! Oh, gods, this was a bad idea we shouldn’t-” Hunk started to ramble but I quickly shut him up.  
“Hunk, He will be fine, besides after he leads us to the treasure of Altea we will let him go” I sank down to a crouch position as I studied the mermans face, his features were delicate and smooth, he would have looked human if it wasn’t for the large frilled red ears.  
“This is going to be such a hassle taking care of him like this… we will have to change his water constantly and I highly doubt he will trust us enough to get close to him without someone getting hurt.” Pidge groaned. I turned to her with a thoughtful look.  
“Don’t you have a book on transformations or something? Maybe if we can make him human then he it will be easier to deal with him.” Pidge looked at me confused for a second but then snapped her fingers with an enlightened expression.  
“That’s right! schimbarea percepției or change of perception, we got that after raiding that witches nook on one of Zarkon’s ships. I don’t know if it works though… we’ve never tried it and I’m still having trouble translating.” Pidge put her hand to her chin in thought.  
“Lance thats crazy?! What if it just ends up killing him! He’s an innocent creature and I know that this altean treasure is super important to you but maybe he doesn’t even know what it is or maybe he’ll lead us to a trap and kill us, WE DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THE MERMAID IS EVEN A HE!!!” Hunk started to panic as he started to list all the possibilities of what could happen. I finally stood up from my crouched position and grabbed his shoulders.  
“Hunk, Budy, settle down. We don’t know if we don’t try. Now Pidge go find that book, and hunk go find Shay and take a breather. That’s an order.” Hunk was about to protest but I just shooed him away, pushing both Hunk and Pidge out of my cabin. Once they were gone I walked over to my lavish bed and flopped down on it.  
“And now we wait to see what happens…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith doesn't know whats going on. Lance has secrets. How will this turn out? I don't know I'm here for the ride just like the rest of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise this will get more exciting. Also Keith doesn't know about human stuff.

Chapter Two: First Meeting

??? POV

God my head… I bring up my hands and press them to my temples, letting out a sound of distress. Where am I? What happ- The two legged! My eyes shot open as I look around. This isn’t my cave, this isn’t even the ocean! My breath quickens as I try to move around. I’m in some kind of bowl thing, luckily it has some seawater for me to at least breath somewhat normally but I can barely move! This is too constricting I need to get out I can’t move, I can’t escape! I Start to screech trying to get someone’s attention to help me. Water flies around me as I try to swim away… but there’s nowhere to go! Im dying, they are going to kill me! I didn’t even do anything to the two legged and they are going to kill me just like my mother! I start to hear loud rhythmic noises that are quickly coming towards me and it makes me panic more. The wall opens up in a section revealing the two legged male from earlier with the fancy leg covers and blue eyes. He’s who brought me here! I know it was him! I bare my teeth to him and hiss, frantically looking around for an exit. That’s when my eyes catch an opening in the wall close to this bowl I’m trapped in, it looks over the ocean, my home! I reach for it and slap my hand over a clear surface. ‘Glass’ That’s what the two legged people drink from and throw the bottles in the ocean.  
“Hey settle down! I’m not going to hurt you!” The Fancy leg cover man says. I hiss at him again and claw at the glass trying to open it.  
“It won’t open that way, just settle down. I promise this is only temporary.” He holds his hand up showing me his palms and starts to slowly come closer. My eyes start to water as more fear fills my mind and body. I’m trapped in a small bowl with no way to get out. I scream at him trying to get him to back up but he doesn’t stop, just flinches when I yell at him. My barbs can’t open in this bowl, I have no way of defending myself. Tears start to fall down my face as he’s only a few steps away from me.  
“Just settle down, I just want to talk.” His voice is so soft… He looks vulnerable as he holds his hands up and exposes himself to me. He may be my only way out… Maybe I can use him to escape. My breathing slows but I still try to stay as far as I can from him. I stay at the opposite side of the bowl from him and wrap my arms around myself. Tears still fall from my eyes but only a few. I need to stay strong.  
“See its ok, I won’t do anything to hurt you. My name is Lance, do you have a name?” He points at himself when he says Lance. I am glad my mother taught me how to understand the human language before she left. I nod my head slightly and the fancy- Lance smiles.  
“Can you tell me your name? I don’t want to keep calling you mermaid.” I opened my mouth and let out several intervals of sound indicating my name and point to myself just as he did, but lance covers his ears and groans slightly. I look at him confused when he uncovers his ears. He can’t hear me if he covers them, so I say my name again but he stops me in the middle.  
“O-ok I won’t be able to say that… or understand that, how about I give you a name that is easier for me to say. Is that ok?” He gives me another smile. I hesitate for a second but slowly nod my head.  
“Well first off, you are male correct? I don’t know how mermaid genders work but you do look male.” I yip at him, of course I am male! Can he not see the large dorsal fin and smell my fermon glands! How rude.  
“Sorry sorry just making sure. Well back to a name then… What about speedy? I heard you’re very fast.” I scrunch my nose up and shake my head, what a stupid name, speedy.  
“Ok not speedy… Coral? No, that’s more of a girls name.” He looks down and rubs his eyes. He stays silent for a second and I was about to get his attention when his head shoots up and looks at me.  
“Keith! I’ll call you Keith! Since we got you by the Shore of Keith’s Cliff. Does that work for you?” He looks excited about the name and very proud that he came up with it. I think the name over… Ke-iff, keff, Kieff, Keith! Yah sounds like that, Keith. I nod my head and give him a tiny smile back.  
“Alright Keith! Now I have some questions for you but It can wait until you have eaten, I hear you like lobster so I had Hunk make you some.” I look at him confused, how did he know I like lobster? Before I could question this, another man walked in holding a silver tray with a bright red lobster on it. He was bigger than Lance and was definitely stronger, I hiss at him to establish dominance. He jumps back and quickly hides behind Lance.  
“Lance this is a bad idea… He could really hurt us, plus that old guy at the bar said he was super poisonous!” This ‘Hunk’ guy said to Lance. He obviously didn’t know I could understand him. I huff at him and roll my eyes. For a two leg as large as him, you would think he would be more tough.  
“Now now Hunk, he is our guest.” Lance looked at me and quickly closed his right eye and smirked… weird… He must have something in his eye. Lance took the plate from this Hunk guy and took the last few steps to be right next to the bowl I was in. I bristle at him but he just smiles.  
“Here, I heard from the towns people that you like to take their lobsters, so I had Hunk cook one for you.” I wonder what he means by ‘take’. I hesitantly take the plate from him and look at the too red of a lobster, giving it an experimental poke. The lobster was warm… and dead. I sniff at the lobster but I couldn’t smell any reason for it to have died, or why it was so warm. Looking over at Lance he gives me a nod and a smile. I shrug and pick the lobster off the plate and bite right threw the shell taking a big bite. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Hunk and Lance both jumped. I give them a questionable glance as I take another bite.  
“Well that’s one way to eat it.” Hunk scratches the back of his neck as he turns to Lance. “So is he unable to talk? He seems to understand what we are saying though.” Lance nods at his conclusion.  
“He can talk, just not like us. It sounds more like a dolphin than actual words…” I started to tune out the rest of their conversation. I was getting really tired as I ate, honestly it’s getting really hard to keep my eyes open. Before I knew it the plate slid from my hands and everything went dark…

Lance’s POV  
I was talking to Hunk about all I could get from the Merman this far, when I heard a slight thud from behind me. I turn to see that Keith had fallen asleep.  
“Wow, that sleeping drug worked really fast.” I take a step closer to Keith and run my hand through his messy noirette hair. His breath was even and shallow, yeah he is asleep.  
“Alright Hunk now for step 2, go find Pidge. It’s time to get this boy some legs.” I grab the plate from the tub and hand it to Hunk, who of course looks really nervous.  
“How do we know this is going to work? No one on this ship has ever studied magic and we just got the merman-”  
“Keith” I cut off Hunk who gives me a confused glance but quickly shakes it off.  
“Ok well we just got Keith to settle down! He isn’t going to want to help us after this, Hell he won’t even trust us!”   
“Hunk, I don’t care if he doesn’t trust us. He is just here to help us find the treasure of Altea and then we let him go, besides I can be very persuasive.” I smirk and start to walk out of my bathroom going to find Pidge myself. I can hear Hunk let out a sigh as he follows behind me.  
“Just… Don’t hurt him. He doesn’t understand what the importance of all of this is.” Hunk walks past me and I just huff. I know what I am doing, and it was bad luck for Keith to be the mermaid we are using but we need a mermaid no less. I sighed and walked over to one of the mirrors hanging on the wall. My reflection was tired, dark bags started to form under my eyes and I could see my skin was getting dry.  
“I need a spa day…” I mutter to myself as I run my hands over my face. No use complaining about it now, we just need to get Keith out of my tub and talking. The quicker he talks the quicker this is all over. Walking over to my desk I sit in my lavish chair with plush mahogany cushions and a gold trim and lay my head on my desk.  
“I’m sorry mama… I know this isn’t what you wanted of me.” I turn to a small piece of paper that was framed on my desk. It was the last note I was given by my mom before I ran away. Before I could get too sentimental, the door to my private quarters slammed open and in walked Pidge. Of course she buried her nose in a book giving me a single glance before going back to reading.  
“I suspect I am here about fish boy correct?” Pidge ungracefully flops on my bed still reading her book.  
“His names keith and yes. Have you figured anything out about giving him legs? I don’t want him staying in my bathtub for this entire trip.” Rubbing my head I sit up and watch her.  
“Oh good you named him… Anyway, of course I figured it out, now it’s just a matter of getting the ingredients and performing the spell. There is just one problem.” I raise a brow at her, waiting for her to continue.  
“And that is?” She lets out a long sigh and closes her book. This can’t be good.  
“He will have to be bonded to someone threw a blood contract.” I blink at her and laugh.  
“That doesn’t sound like a big deal at all! Here I was thinking we had to kill someone.  
“Lance this is serious! A blood contract is binding two living creatures together making the separation of the two extremely painful! If we go through with this than you won't be able to leave his side just as he can’t leave yours.” Oh… This is bad. I frown at the news.  
“And there isn’t anything else we can do?” Pidge shakes her head, her full attention is on me.  
“I guess we have no choice then. Let’s get this over with.” Pidge looks shocked at my answer and is about to object but I hold my hand up stopping her.  
“Now, what all do we have to do?”


	3. Chapter 3: Baby steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pain, legs, and poor Keith. Lance what are you hiding? Why is Altea so important to you? Will my crippling anxiety ever leave? (No)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took such a long time! College transcripts are a pain :( I hope I am able to update more frequently now.

Chapter 3: Baby Steps

Narrative

Pidge and Lance were gathered around a table in the mess hall closest to the kitchen where Hunk was stress baking. On the table sat an arrangement of objects needed for the transfiguration spell to turn Keith human.  
“Alright, we have the heart of a shark, ribboned seaweed, scales from Keith, an ivory dagger, and a mermaid, AKA Keith.” Pidge listed off as she once again referenced the book. Lance examined one of Keith ruby colored scales in his hand, as he listened to Pidge ramble about everything that was to be done for the spell to work.  
“We will have to coat Keith’s fins and tail in the blood of the shark heart. Then you, Lance, will use the ivory dagger to cut a vertical strip down your hand, and do the same to Keith’s with the same blade only his strip will be horizontal. This is Crucial that you keep the lines correctly orientated on the right person, otherwise the spell could reverse and turn you into a merman, it could parilized both of you from the hips down, or worse kill you both.” Pidge gave Lance a serious look, Lance just looked back at her with an offended glare.  
“Hey don’t give me that look I know what I am doing.” Lance argued and crossed his arms with a fudd. Pidge just rolled her eyes and went back to reading the instructions.  
“Once both hands have been cut you must align the cuts with each other so they form a cross, or an X, depending how you look at it. At that point I will wrap the Ribbon seaweed around your hands to seal the blood contract. The seaweed should rapidly dry and fall of if done correctly, if not… well I’m not going to go into the possible side effects.” Pidge let out a small nervous laugh and Lance looked at her sceptical, she decided that the floor was more interesting in that moment than looking at Lance. Before Lance could ask Pidge continues.  
“Now if you did do this right the moment the seaweed all falls off the transphormation should start. Now Lance are you sure you want to do this? There are just as many side effects that will happen to you, just as they are to Keith. Plus from what I am able to translate, this is going to hurt-” Lance cut Pidge off with a glare.  
“Pidge I am not going to say this again, I am going through with this. You are either going to help me or get off the ship at our next port.” Lance stared down Pidge as he got up from his seat towering over the smaller teen. Pidge was speechless she’s never seen that look on Lance before. His lip was pulled down into a scowl and his brows were furrowed, there was a raging fire in his eyes that were also cold and heartless. He was terrifying.  
“No, I mean yes I still am going to help you.” Pidge broke eye contact with Lance, pretending to go back to the book to avoid the cold stare, however Lance could see the small droplets of water at the corners of her eyes and heard the slight sniffle she gave after her response, this immediately made Lance back down. Lance sighed and slumped back into his chair, rubbing his eyes Lance’s expression turned solemn.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I just… This could be my only chance. To find Altea I mean.” Pidge looked at him with a knowing expression.  
“I know… Just one last thing before we start. We need to keep the remainder of Keith’s scales safe and in a place that you could easily find. It is the only way he will be able to turn back into his true merman form.” Lance nodded, bringing one of the 10 scales he got into his hand again.  
“Hunk do you have a spare jar I can use, or maybe a pouch? I don’t want to lose these scales.” Hunk turned to Lance and nodded sending him a friendly smile, but Lance could see the skepticism and slight fear in his eyes.  
“Of course Lance, just please be careful.” Hunk walked around the counter with a small soup bowl.  
“I will have to look for something more permanente later, but for now this will have to do.” Hunk swept the nine scales into the bowl and held out his hand to take the scale from Lance. Lance shook his head sighed and pocketed the last scale.  
“This one is for good luck. Come on Pidge let’s get that boy some legs.” Pidge sent Lance her devilish grin and Lance smirked making his way to the door of the mess hall with all the ingredients. Pidge followed close behind Lance as they made their way to Lance’s private quarters. Once inside Lance made a B-line to the bathroom while pidge laid the ingredients on the desk next to the bed. Lance stopped at the tub and gazed at Keith, running his fingers through his black lockes once again.  
“I am sorry hermoso, I will get you back to your rightful form eventually.” Very carefully Lance reached his arms into the tub and brought his arms under Keith, pushing Keith’s barbs against his ruby scales to protect himself from Keith’s poison, and lifted him up bride style. Lance thought to himself about how light Keith was, he was way too skinny for his liking. Thinking back to his mama he knew she would whoop his ass if he didn’t get his boy fed.  
“When your walking we got to get some meat on your bones.” He laughed to himself as he entered his bedroom.  
“Alright let’s be quick, I don’t need him dying on me now because he can’t breath.” Pidge nodded at his remark.  
“Place him on the bed, I already have everything ready. Just remember your part and this should be done quickly.” Lance nodded and placed Keith on the bed. Pidge quickly came over and haphazardly handed Lance the Ivory dagger having more of her focused on getting to Keith’s side to get the shark blood on his tail. The preparation was quick, barely taking a few minutes with fast Pidge was, but Keith’s gills started to flutter in a panicked fashion.  
“Alright Lance, remember you’re lateral, Keith is horizontal.” Lance didn’t respond as he came to Keith’s side and slashed a long line down his own tanned hand, Lance winced but tried not to let it show as he gently took Keith’s right hand up and slashed a line across his soft pale hand. Keith’s hand reacted with a small flinch. As quickly as he could Lance brought their hands together and interlocked them. Pidge was quick to pull a strand of long seaweed from the table and rapped it twice around the interlocked hands.  
“Ok it should do it’s thing right about… Now!” The seaweed dried quickly and crumbled apart just as Pidge had said. Lance didn’t dare move, it was silent for a long time with nothing happening. Just as Lance was about to ask a sharp pain serged through Lance’s hand and up his arm, it felt like he was hit with lightning. He tried to pull his hand away but it was like it was magnetized to Keith’s. Lance groaned in pain as his grip tightened, but when he looked over he saw that Keith’s scales started to retract back into his body and a dark crimson line split down his tail and was getting deeper and deeper. Keith woke to excruciating pain and let out a sound loud enough and shrill enough to almost break glass. Pidge covered her ears and Lance shrunk away at the blood curdling scream. Keith’s skin was boiling and it felt like he was being ripped apart. Keith’s large dorsal fins and barbs started to melt into a thick goo that covered and soak into Lance’s bed duvet, his tail fin started to darken and fold into itself creating itself into 2 foot like shapes that started to get lighter and more defined as the spell continued. The gills on Keith’s ribs started to close and shrink leaving Keith gasping and panicked as he tried to breath, his screams slowly started to lose the animalistic screech to it and became more human like while his tail finally split into two equal portions that became more and more like legs. Lance forgot his own pain and marveled at the spell doing it’s work, and watched as the beautiful merman morphed into an even more beautiful man. The transformation was torcherous. Parts of Keith’s body melted off into translucent red plasma beneath him, his gills disappeared and he was spitting up blood as his lungs worked on opening a new portion in his throat and nasal passage to let in air, but the most painful of it all was having his tail literally split in half. The spine of the tail shrunk to the back of his hips and new bones rapidly grew as his scales either absorbed back into his body or melted off with the rest, and Keith couldn’t even be embarrassed when his mating organ slowly became more visable as he lost his sex sheath what was once in the middle of his tail. Lance was brought back from his trance when he saw Keith start to cry. The transphormation was finished, and Keith was covered in many plasmic fluids and coughed up blood but to Lance he was still the most beautiful creature Lance has ever seen. Keith turned and looked at Lance with the most pained expression Lance has ever seen. It made him want to hold the previous merman in his arms and make his pain disappear.  
“Why?” Keith’s voice was so quiet and so distraught Lance almost missed the question all together, almost mistaking it was another whimper. Their hands fell apart quickly after and Lance was quick to take Keith’s available hand in both of his. He ran his thumbs over the fare skin, noticing that his hand no longer had the thin webbing, though keith still had claws they were more like sharpened nails now.  
“I am very sorry, this was the only way.” Keith’s amethyst eyes closed passing out from the unforgiving pain. Lance would never forgive himself for the pain he put this extraordinary creature through, but he had a job to do. However if it came down to it, he would do all of this again. He can’t lose this chance when he is so close.


	4. Chapter 4: Rude awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yah Keith has legs, lance wants to be nice, Keith is naked in all of this, because who needs clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey people! I am sorry I haven't been posting like I said I would! But something happened that needed my attention first.

Chapter 4: Rude awakening

Narrative  
Keith felt like he was floating. Not like in the water like he normally does when he feels lazy. No this felt like he was nowhere and everywhere at the same time. He didn’t know which way was up or down, his whole body felt tingly and weightless. Maybe he was dead… Death didn’t seem like such a far-fetched possibility, due to what the two-legged did to him earlier. Honestly what did they do? It felt like he was being torn in two! Maybe the did cut off his tail to sell to some fishing people, but it didn’t feel like it came off… More like it changed. Keith was starting to get a headache from thinking back on what happened. He really would like to wake up now if this was a dream. He tried to shout, but he couldn’t make noise. He tried again, but this time only a whimper that was barely audible came out. He started to squirm and fight but it was like he was tied down. The floaty feeling went away and his body no felt like tiny needles pierced his skin with every move he made. He continued to fight his invisible restraints but still nothing. His breathing became erratic and his movements became more panicked. He tried to scream, tried to call for help but still nothing but a small whimper. He could feel wetness at the sides of his eyes. He was starting to give up. Maybe he was dead and this is what it is, just an empty vase landscape of eternal nothingness, no way of calling for help, no person to seek guidance, just alone. The wetness on his eyes started to fall and coat his cheeks. He was crying. He laid there for a bit, was he lying? Well either way he just settled for some time and let the tears flow. Whimper after whimper left his throat, but still he was alone. That’s when he felt it, Warmth. Warmth on his right cheek, something that was so comforting and kind, something his mother did when he was young and upset. He relished in the warmth, and soon a light started to form right in front of him. It was blinding, but it was something to grab onto, something he hoped was a way out. The light developed around him. His eyes shot open and two ocean blue eyes stared back at him. Fear filled Keith’s body and he jumped away from the one who did this to him, his capturer. Lance. Keith hit his head on the wall behind him trying to get away from Lance. Lance in turn just looked at him in worry. Why did he look worried?  
“Hey it’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you.” Lance looked at Keith with such kindness. How dare he. Keith’s veins filled with rage and he tried to hiss at him, but what came out was a weird gurgle instead. Keith quickly closed his mouth. He’s never made a noise like that. Lance snickered but when he caught Keith’s gaze he immediately stopped. Keith tried to hiss again, but the same thing happened no hiss just funny noises. Keith started to panic as he tried making other noises like squeaking, and his shriek, but even those noises were corrupted to. His squeaks sounded small and didn’t have any impact at all, and his shrieking just came out like a two-legged scream. Lance covered his ears when Keith started yelling.  
“Posiden’s beard stop screaming!” Lance yelled. Keith did stop but to only start hyperventilating instead. Lance felt guilty for yelling and tried to bring his hand out to comfort the panicked mer- well boy now, but Keith just pushed himself further from Lance until he fell off the bed, bringing lance and all the covers with them. It was a mess of blankets and legs as they both fell with a loud thump. Keith gripped his head after falling on it and rolled over, but he suddenly stopped all movement. Right in front of him two pale legs, two feet, and 10 toes. Lance was still slightly dazed from falling but as he started to ask why Keith went quiet all of a sudden he saw what he was looking at. Keith was quiet as he tentatively poked one of the legs, only to quickly pull his hand away. There was a sheet that covered his private area and part of his stomach and Keith slowly lifted it up. The previous mer’s eyes widened impossibly more as he stared right where his new legs connected to his body. Lance watched for any reaction but Keith just sat there staring.  
“Hey you ok? This is only temporary.” Lance started to once again try and get closer to the mer but he didn’t get far. Rage filled Keith as he pounced on Lance, scratching and hitting wherever he could.  
“Hey- sto- STOP!” Lance was quick to cover his face. Luckily the spell took away Keith’s dagger like claws, but still his constant hits started to hurt. Lance growled in frustration and flipped the two of them over so Lance was now on top and pinned Keith's hands above his head.  
“That is enough! You are on my ship, and you will respect me! I know you are upset but I still am incharge and the sooner you do what I ask of you the sooner I will let you go home!” Keith still squirmed under Lance’s iron grip, and Lance could only be thankful Keith still hasn’t figured out his legs because he was at a perfect angle to knee him in the gut.  
“I know you can understand me, so just please for the love of whatever god or goddess you believe in, just settle down!” Keith glared at Lance but huffed and settled down.  
“Alright, I'm going to let go now, and you are not going to try and fight me again understand.” Keith bared his teeth, which was less threatening without pointed teeth and fangs. Lance glared back and tightened his grip. Keith whimpered at the new grip but Lance wasn’t letting go without an answer.  
“Understand?” Keith was quick to nod this time. Lance gave him one last look but slowly let go and got off of Keith. In turn Keith backed up from him and cradled his wrists with small whimpers. Lance let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair.  
“Listen, I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s actually the last thing I want to do, but please, I need you to cooperate with me.” Keith barely lifted his eyes to meet his blue gaze, but he did nod slightly indicating he was listening.  
“I know this is probably really scary.” Keith rolled his eyes at that. “And you have some questions, so why don’t we get to know each other and have a little chat.”


End file.
